The Pastor purses his pout and steps back: “This is one of
Chuck’s favourite songs, he told most of his close friends it was the song to
be played at his memorial.”

The choir slowly segues into Guns ‘n Roses “Sweet Child of
Mine.” Just inside the door of the church at Chuck “Mess-up” Jessup’s memorial,
The Girls hover. Not connected enough to sit inside, not disconnected enough to
go to the bar around the corner. Janna St. James runs into the foyer looking mostly
manic and dearly disheveled…
Jean
Jones clutches at Patti’s sequined arm and whispers. “If she’s here…”

“By the way, where’s Minty!” Jenna screams at the assembly.

This is the fourth year for the Whistler Collective Novel
Experiment, a literary collaboration of local writers put on by the Whistler
Writers’ Group, the Vicious Circle. Each week the Pique will publish the next
chapter of the collective novel and all of the completed chapters will be
posted online at www.piquenewsmagazine.com/collectivenovel/.

Kevin Damaskie moved to Whistler in 1992 in pursuit of cold,
deep powder and hot stories to foster his budding journalism career. About a
millisecond after he arrived, he realized Whistler was the best community in
the world and started building a life in this wonderful valley. He has worked
as a reporter at the Whistler Question, helped design and launch Pique
Newsmagazine and been published in Powder, Skier and Ski Canada magazines. He’s
currently working as the Sustainability Coordinator for the Resort Municipality
of Whistler.